1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus having an ink jet recording head for recording an image by discharging ink onto a sheet constituting a recording medium, and a media cartridge detachably mountable on such apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
The ink jet image forming apparatus, for forming an image by discharging ink onto a sheet constituting a recording medium, has a high advantage in cost and is capable of easily forming a color image, and is therefore becoming popular in various imaging equipment such as a printer or a facsimile.
Also the ink jet recording apparatus, being relatively easily realized in a compact size, is also increasingly employed in so-called mobile printer of an easily portable size.
For mobile printing, there has conventionally been employed a small ink jet recording apparatus as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-240224. The ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned patent application is an easily portable printer, and is capable of forming an image on a sheet by connecting the apparatus to an information input device such as a personal computer.
However, such conventional technology has been associated with the following drawbacks.
A first drawback is related with the compactization of the ink jet image recording apparatus. As in the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-240224, the ink used for forming the image on the sheet is normally contained in an ink cartridge provided in the apparatus, and, during recording the image on the sheet, is supplied therefrom to a recording head for discharging the ink, thereby recording the image.
The ink cartridge, naturally containing a large amount of ink required for forming images on several ten to several hundred sheets, occupies a large proportion within the space of the apparatus. This situation rendered it difficult to compact the ink jet image recording apparatus.
Also the ink jet image recording apparatus has to execute ink discharge not for image formation on the sheet, but for head cleaning or as preliminary ink discharge in order to ensure proper image recording. A used ink tank for receiving such discharged ink has also to be provided within the apparatus, and such fact also hinders the compactization of the image recording apparatus.
In addition the apparatus is required to be provided with rollers, a sheet tray and the like for conveying the sheets, and such members naturally increase the dimension of the apparatus.
A second drawback is related to the carriage and storage of the sheets for image recording.
In carrying the image recording apparatus, the user is required to carry also the image recording sheets, but, in the apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-240224, the image recording sheets have to be inserted into the apparatus one by one so that the user is compelled to execute very cumbersome operations.
The image recording operation may even fail particularly in case of continuous image formation on plural sheets. Also since there is not provided a sheet storage device for containing the sheets, the sheet may be smeared or creased and may become unsuitable for image recording while the sheets are carried by the user.
Also the sheet to be recorded by the ink jet image recording apparatus is not limited to plain paper but includes also glossy paper, coated paper, an OHP film (overhead projector sheet), seal paper etc. Particularly in case of printing a photographic image, there is often utilized a sheet having special coating.
However the sheet with such coating may become unsuitable for image recording by the smearing or peeling of the coated layer by the contact of the user or by deposition of dust, so that the sheets have to be tightly sealed rather than being simply contained.
Similarly, photosensitive sheets may be discolored or deteriorated in function upon exposure to the external light, so that there has been desired a configuration allowing to carry such sheets in a sealed state and to feed such sheets into the image recording apparatus at the image recording, without manual manipulation.
A third drawback is related to the difference in the material of various sheets employed for image recording. As explained above, the sheet to be used in the ink jet image recording apparatus is not limited to plain paper but includes also glossy paper, coated paper, an OHP film (overhead projector sheet), seal paper etc. These sheets are significantly different in the friction coefficient and the base weight, owing to the difference in the materials thereof.
For such various sheets, it is very difficult to use a common sheet feeding member or a common separating member for separating a single sheet. Thus, in the image recording apparatus having a sheet conveying member capable of conveying plain paper, a thick coated paper may result in defective conveying because of the difference in the rigidity of the sheet or in the friction coefficient.
In addition, in order to achieve satisfactory image recording without image bleeding, it is necessary to employ inks of different compositions depending on the difference in the sheet material or coating thereon, but, in the conventional ink jet image recording apparatus, it is only possible to use the same ink even when the kind of the sheet is changed or to replace the ink cartridge whenever the sheet is changed, and such method has been very inconvenient or costly to the user.
In consideration of these drawbacks, the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-227957 discloses a sheet cartridge for a portable printer, which is mountable on and detachable from the image recording apparatus and freely portable. Such sheet cartridge allows to protect the sheets when they are carried by the user and can therefore resolve the aforementioned second drawback, but there has been no discussion of the first and third drawbacks, and the aforementioned sheet cartridge is based on the same concept as in the so-called sheet cassette or magazine and does not solve these drawbacks.
Also the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 55-140436 discloses a sheet containing apparatus provided, in a cut sheet cassette containing cut sheets, with a feed roller for advancing a sheet and a separating pawl for separating a single sheet. Such sheet cassette contributes to compactization of the image recording apparatus by shifting the feeding roller from the image recording apparatus to the sheet cassette, but there has not been disclosed any configuration for reducing the dimension of the ink cartridge and the sheet cassette may inversely become bulky. Also there has not been disclosed any measure for resolving the second and third drawbacks.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-15813 discloses an information processing apparatus, incorporating an ink jet image recording apparatus. In this patent application, the image recording apparatus can be incorporated in another apparatus by reducing the size of components of the ink jet image recording apparatus, but the configuration of the sheet containing apparatus is not disclosed with respect to the second drawback, and there has not been given any description on the third drawback. Consequently this invention is also incapable of resolving these drawbacks.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-254700 discloses a media cartridge integrally including a sheet for image recording, an ink tank for ink supply to a recording unit, and a used ink tank for containing the used ink, for resolving the first drawback. This invention allows to compactize the image recording apparatus, by eliminating the ink cartridge and the used ink tank, which have been provided in the ink jet image recording apparatus.
Also as the media cartridge integrally contains the ink of the optimum composition for the sheet contained therein, the user can achieve appropriate recording by merely selecting the kind of the sheet, so that the usability can be improved.
However the patent application does not provide any description on the sheet feeding member or the sheet separating member depending on the material of the sheet, nor on the sealing of the sheets.
Also in the mobile printing market, it is considered important to provide an apparatus enabling re-use in consideration of the environmental issue, but the aforementioned patent applications do not provide any description nor technical concept relating to the re-use of the apparatus.
Thus, the technologies disclosed in the foregoing patent applications do not resolve all the drawbacks which the present invention intends to resolve, and there has not been provided the ink jet image recording apparatus desired in the mobile printing market.
In consideration of the foregoing, the object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet image recording apparatus adapted for use in mobile printing, and a media cartridge for containing a sheet to be recorded by such apparatus, and the present invention is featured by a media cartridge detachably mountable on an image recording apparatus for forming an image on a sheet and including a frame body which includes sheets for recording an image by the image recording apparatus, an ink containing member for containing ink to be supplied to image recording means of the image recording apparatus and to be discharged on the sheets, pick-up means for feeding the sheets one by one from the frame body, and an ink absorbent member for absorbing the ink not used for recording in the image recording apparatus in a state that the frame body is mounted thereon.